Adjustable vehicle seat mechanisms are well known in the car industry for providing means to adjust the position and/or ergonomic configuration of the seat the car driver or passenger is sitting in.
The present invention is more particularly concerned with powered vehicle seat mechanisms having adjustment characteristics that are not typically found in factory installed powered seat mechanisms. These powered seat mechanisms of the prior art generally provide a vehicle seat that can be swiveled about a vertical axis, as well as slid linearly horizontally towards the adjacent door bay of the vehicle. Such vehicle seat mechanisms are typically useful for helping a car driver or a car passenger with reduced mobility to enter and exit the vehicle.
The vehicle seat mechanisms of the prior art generally include a powered rotation means for orienting the seat between a forward facing position and a sidewards position oriented towards the adjacent vehicle door, which is normally in an open position when the seat achieves the sidewards position.
The vehicle seat mechanisms of the prior art may further generally include a powered sliding mechanism for imparting a forward or backward horizontal movement to the seat relative to the direction the latter is facing. This horizontal movement is generally longer than what is typically achievable with conventional vehicle power seats for allowing the vehicle seat attached to the vehicle seat mechanism to reach a further distance outside the open door of the vehicle.
While many prior art mechanisms can generally fulfill the main objective of operating a vehicle seat between a forward facing position and a door facing position, they also generally entail one or more of the following disadvantages.
The vehicle seat mechanisms of the prior art are generally represented by relatively expensive assemblies of custom made components, which renders the mechanisms particularly onerous to manufacture, as well as to buy for users having typically low incomes typical of persons with reduced mobility or elderly people.
In addition, there are many constraints to satisfy when retrofitting a swiveling vehicle seat mechanism to a car or other vehicle. Notably, the swiveling mechanism typically needs to raise the vehicle seat to a level clearing the doorstep of the vehicle. However, the swiveling mechanism also needs to be dimensioned such that the vehicle seat remains low enough to that the vehicle seat and any intended user sitting therein remains low enough so as to stay clear of the ceiling of the vehicle passenger compartment. These constraints result in most swiveling seat mechanisms to be adapted for use in a small number of model and brands of vehicles having similar dimensions. To provide swiveling seat mechanisms for a large range of vehicles, there is a need to store many different swiveling seat mechanisms, which increases inventory and manufacturing cost.
Against this background, there exists a need for an improved swiveling assembly for a vehicle seat.
An object of the present invention is to provide such a swiveling assembly for a vehicle seat.